Gravity-fed storage device

ABSTRACT

A storage device is provided in an electrophotographic apparatus which includes a storage chamber for storing and dispensing photoconductive elements or chips seriatim wherein the chips are fed from an upper receiving end of the storage compartment to a lower dispensing end thereof by gravity and are held in a substantially horizontal position as they travel from the upper chip receiving end to the lower chip dispensing end to reduce jamming. The chips are fed into the storage chamber by a pair of offset pressure rollers which hold the chips substantially horizontal until its forward end extends over a pair of guide rails attached to the side of the storage compartment so that notches in the photoconductive elements engage the rails. The storage compartment takes the form of a parallelepiped having offset upper and lower ends with sloping side walls so that the chips slide downwardly and forwardly on a cushion of air formed between the chips. The lowermost chip is fed from the storage chamber by a pusher mechanism which causes the chips to be moved forwardly off of supporting feet. A spring detent deflects the chip downwardly onto transport rollers which advance the chips through the electrophotographic apparatus.

United States Patent Gnage 51 Oct. 17,1972

1 1 GRAVITY-FED STORAGE DEVICE [72] Inventor: Oliver W. Gnage, Rochester, NY.

[73] Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company,

Rochester, NY.

[22] Filed: July 6, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 52,152

[52] U.S. Cl. ..22l/225, 221/273, 221/281, 214/6 D [51] Int. Cl. ..B65h 5/00 [58] Field of Search ..221/3l2, 281, 273, 267, 236, 221/224, 225, 268, 270, 238, 271, 272, 274, 275, 276,195;2l4/8.5 F, 6 D; 198/85;

271/DIG. 7

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,419,075 6/1922 Prosser ..221/281 X 1,750,396 3/1930 Evans et a1 ..214/6 D X 2,141,684 12/1938 Diemer ..221/276 X 2,626,197 l/1953- Kollock ..22l/274 X 2,893,597 7/1959 Carlzen ..22l/225 X 3,184,105 5/1965 Willoughby et a1....221/276 X 3,442,200 5/1969 Babel ..22l/273 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,141,116 12/1962 Germany ..27l/DIG. 7

Primary Examiner-Samuel F. Coleman Attorney-Robert W. Hampton and Gary D. Fields [57] ABSTRACT A storage device is provided in an electrophotographic apparatus which includes a storage chamber for storing and dispensing photoconductive elements or chips seriatim wherein the chips are fed from an upper receiving end of the storage compartment to a lower dispensing end thereof by gravity and are held in a substantially horizontal position as they travel from the upper chip receiving end to the lower chip dispensing end to reduce jamming. The chips are fed into the storage chamber by a pair of offset pressure rollers which hold the chips substantially horizontal until its forward end extends over a pair of guide rails attached to the side of the storage compartment so that notches in the photoconductive elements engage the rails. The storage compartment takes the form of a parallelepiped having offset upper and lower ends with sloping side walls so that the chips slide downwardly and forwardly on a cushion of air formed between the chips. The lowermost chip is fed from the storage chamber by a pusher mechanism which causes the chips to be moved forwardly off of supporting feet. A spring detent deflects the chip downwardly onto transport rollers which advance the chips through the electrophotographic apparatus.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUBT 17 I972 SHEET 2 OF 2 OLIVER W. GNAGE INVENTOIF.

ATTORNEYS GRAVITY-FED STORAGE DEVICE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a storage chamber for storing and feeding photoconductive chips in an electrostatic apparatus, and more particularly to a gravity-fed storage chamber.

2. Description of the Prior Art I In commonly assigned copending US. application Ser. No. 741,359, entitled Method and Apparatus for Making Composite Electrophotographic Prints, to John S. Pollock, filed July 1, 1968, a method and device are disclosed for making electrophotographic multiple color prints wherein photoconductive elements or chips in separate stacks or sets are charged and exposed to each of a plurality of color separation images projected from an original. An electrostatic latent thus formed on each of the exposed chips is developed and transferred to a receiver in a predetermined cycle with respect to the other chips wherein the separate images are placed on the receiver in registry to form a composite color print. In each embodiment, the chips move through charging stations, developing stations, transfer stations, cleaning stations, and finally to a storage station. In order to provide proper time exposure of the chips and proper registry the chips move through the various stations at different rates depending upon contrast and color of the original image. Therefore, it is necessary to include in such an apparatus a storage chamber which will hold extra chips to compensate for variations in the time in which a particular chip makes a complete cycle.

In the prior art devices, such as US. Pat. No. 3,009,402 to Crumrine et al, a rather complex mechanism is required for feeding the chips from one end of the storage compartment to the other. Such complicated mechanisms may be subject to frequent malfunctions, such as jamming, and are quite costly, thereby increasing the expense of the apparatus. In addition, such dispensing mechanisms require considerable space which in some environments may be critical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention a gravity-fed storage device is provided having a housing forming a storage compartment or chamber with an upper element-receiving end and a lower element-dispensing end and guide means within the housing extending between the upper and lower ends and engageable by guide engaging means on the elements to maintain the elements in a generally horizontal position as they are fed by gravity from the upper end to the lower end of the housing. The housing also includes element retaining means adjacent the lower end for supporting the elements within the housing and to facilitate dispensing of elements seriatim from the storage compartment.

More particularly, a storage compartment in the form of a parallelepiped having offset upper and lower ends is provided with an entrance slot at the upper end through which a photoconductive element or chip is fed by means of axially offset pressure rollers wherein the upper roller is spaced further from the entrance slot than the lower roller so that the chip is held in a generally horizontal position as it is fed into the housing causing the forward end thereof to be held above the guide rails until substantially the entire chip is within the storage chamber. Thereupon, the guide rails and a sloping rear wall of the parallelepiped-shaped storage compartment support the chip in a generally horizontal position so that it floats by gravity downwardly on a cushion of air to the lower end of the storage compartment until it comes to rest at the bottom or upon other chips in the storage chamber. The lower end of each guide rail is provided with forwardly extending foot and a foot or lip is provided at the lower edge of the sloping rear wall to support the lowermost chip in a chip dispensing position. The chip is dispensed by means of a pusher mechanism which pushes the chips forwardly off of the feet and thelip. The leading end of the chip is deflected downwardly by a spring biased detent on the housing so that the chip clears the feet and is moved onto support rollers of a conveyor system to advance the chip to the next station.

Additional advantages of this invention will become apparent from the description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of an electrophotographic apparatus incorporating the gravityfed storage device of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the storage device of this invention showing details of the storage chamber; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view, taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2, showing how a chip engages rails in the storage compartment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In commonly assigned copending US. application Ser. No. 741,359 entitled Method and Apparatus For Making Composite Electrophotographic Prints to John S. Pollock, filed July 1, 1968, an apparatus is disclosed for making electrophotographic color prints from color separation originals wherein the originals are exposed for varying lengths of time to compensate for differences in photoconductive speed to different color ranges and to differences in contrast of the originals, from which the prints are to be made. In the systems disclosed in that application the photoconductive elements or chips are fed through an endless cycle. These photoconductive elements are stored in a storage chamber and fed from the bottom thereof into a charging station and subsequently to an exposure station, a developing station, a transfer station, a cleaning station, and back to the upper end of the storage chamber.

Such a system S as disclosed schematically in FIG. 1 wherein a plurality of photoconductive elements or chips C are stored in a storage chamber or compartment H. Chips C are received in the storage compartment at the upper end thereof and are held in a generally horizontal position by spaced guide rails such as guide rail 4 and a sloping rear wall of chamber H, as they are fed by gravity to the lower end of the storage compartment where they are stacked. The chips are then fed seriatim from the bottom of the storage compartment by a pusher mechanism P and advanced by a conveyor system which includes a plurality of spaced rollers 8, which may be magnetic rollers as disclosed more fully in commonly assigned copending U.S. application Ser. No. 52,153 entitled, Magnetic Conveyor System to Oliver W. Gnage and Gordon F. Connelly, filed on even date herewith. The photoconductive chips are fed by magnetic rollers 8 past a charging station 10, such as a corona charging device, to place a generally uniform electrostatic charge on the photoconductive surface thereof and onto a multisided roller 12 which changes the direction of the chip to cause it to be moved down by additional rollers 8 to a lower plane. The chip again changes direction upon coming in contact with a further multisurfaced roller 12 so that it begins moving in a direction opposite to its initial direction to an exposure station 14 where the charged surface is exposed to an image from an original 16 which is illustrated as being illuminated by light sources 18. The electrostatic image thus formed due to dissipation of the electrostatic charge in the exposed areas is developed at a developing station 20 and this image is transferred to a suitable receiver (not shown) at a transfer station 22. After transfer the photoconductive chip is fed by a series of rollers 8 and 12 to a cleaning station 24 to remove any residual toner particles from the surface of the photoconductive chip. The chip C is then fed by upper and lower pressure rollers 26 and 27 which insert the cleaned chip into the top of storage compartment I-I.

The photoconductive element or chip C, as best seen in FIG. 3, includes a conductive base, such as steel, having a photoconductive surface or sheet 30 thereon which is narrower than the conductive base to form lateral edges 32. These edges are provided with notches 34 for engaging rails in the storage chamber and includes tabs 36 which serve as spacers for the chips C when they are in the storage compartment I-I.

.Conveniently, the storage compartment or housing H is formed as a parallelepiped having offset upper and lower ends which includes the first and second opposed side walls 38 and 40, respectively, which are interconnected by a third front wall 42 and fourth rear wall 44, as shown. A top wall 46 is provided which cooperates with the upper end of side walls 38 and 40 and front wall 44 to provide an entrance slot 48 at the upper end of rear wall 44 through which a chip is fed by opposed pressure rollers 26 and 27. Conveniently, guide rail 4 is attached respectively to side walls 38 and 40 which extend generally parallel to the front and rear walls 42 and 44, respectively. The upper ends of the guide rails are spaced from top wall 46 and extends downwardly to the bottom end forming a bottom opening. Each rail terminates in a forwardly extending foot 52 which engages an edge 32 adjacent a notch 34 of the lowermost chip C to support it at the bottom of storage chamber H. The trailing end of the chip is supported by lip 54 at the lower end of rear wall 44.

After passing cleaning station 24, a photoconductive chip is passed between pressure rollers 26 and 27 which are advantageously axially offset so that the axis of upperroller 26 is spaced further from entrance slot 48 than the axis of roller 27, as shown in FIG. 2. Lower roller 28 may be magnetic as are rollers 8 and includes an endless non-magnetic belt 56 which extends around idler roller 58 spaced below lower roller 27. As the photoconductive chip is fed between the nip of the rollers the offset axis arrangement of upper roller 26 and lower roller 27 holds the leading end of the chip in a substantially horizontal position so that it clears the upper end of guides 4 and as it leaves the nip of the rollers will fall down over the guides, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2. Since roller 27 is magnetic and photoconductive chips C have a conductive backing, the trailing end of the chip is attracted to roller 27 which would tend to follow the roller around and hence draw back out of the storage compartment 2 after it has been inserted therein. This is prevented by belt 54 which causes it to be separated therefrom and to drop into the storage chamber. Guide rails 4 and the sloping rear wall 44 cooperate to hold the chips in substantially horizontal position as they fall or slide due to the influence of gravity from the upper end of the storage chamber to the lower end. This simple structure minimizes the possibility that the chips will jam. As stated above, the lowermost chip is supported by feet 52 adjacent the forward end thereof and is supported at the rear end by a lip 54 extending inwardly from rear wall 44 and is held in place by a spring detent 60 at the lower end of front wall 42, as shown. The lower end of rear wall 44 is provided with a recess 62 in lip 54 to permit a pusher mechanism P to push the lowermost chip from the storage compartment onto rollers 8. The pusher mechanism is illustrated as being connected to rear wall 44 by a bracket 64 and includes a pusher pin 66 which is normally spring-urged by a spring 68 in a direction away from the lowermost chip. The righthand end of pusher pin 66, as viewed in FIG. 2, terminates in a head 70 which is engageable by an eccentric 72 mounted on a shaft 74 and driven by a mechanism, not shown. Thus, as the eccentric 72 is turned, it will force pin 66 to the left, as viewed in FIG. 2 and push the lowermost chip C to the left. The detent spring 60 will force the leading edge downwardly so that the chip drops downwardly and clears feet 52 as it is pushed ahead by pin 66 so that it falls onto rollers 8 which advance it to the next station.

From the foregoing, the advantages of this invention are readily apparent. A simple storage device has been provided for gravity-feeding photoconductive elements or chips from the upper end of a storage chamber to a lower end wherein the chips are maintained in substantially horizontal position. Such a mechanism is simple in construction and unlikely to jam in operation. Furthermore, it is economical and requires a minimum amount of space.

The invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Iclaim: l. A gravity-fed storage device for storing and dispensing seriatim a plurality of substantially identical flat rectangular photoconductive elements having guide engaging means formed in lateral edges of such elements, the storage device comprising:

first and second opposed side walls interconnected with third and fourth opposed front and rear walls, respectively, forming a parallelepiped storage compartment for a' plurality of such elements, said compartment having rectangular offset upper and lower ends which are slightly larger than and correspond in configuration to the elements;

guide means on said first and second opposed side walls and extending generally parallel to said third and fourth walls between said upper end and said lower end for engagement with the guide engaging means of such elements and cooperating with one of said third and fourth walls for maintaining such elements in a substantially horizontal position as they are fed through said compartment by gravity from said upper end to said lower end;

supporting means on said guide means and on said rear wall adjacent to said lower end for releasably supporting elements within said compartment;

means defining a slot at the upper end of said fourth wall for receiving elements seriatim into said compartment; and

means defining an opening in the lower end of said compartment through which said elements can be dispensed seriatim, whereby said compartment and said guide means cooperate to provide an air cushion during gravity feed of such photoconductive elements. 2. A storage device, as claimed in claim 1, further including:

means for engaging an element on said supporting means for moving it through said opening. 3. A storage device, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said supporting means include:

a foot extending toward said third wall from each of cluding:

a pair of opposing upper and lower feed rollers adjacent said first opening, said rollers being axially offset from one another with said upper roller spaced farther from said first opening than said lower roller to hold each element fed by said rollers in a substantially horizontal plane over the upper ends of said guides to align the guide-engaging means with said guides.

5. A storage device, as claimed in claim 4 wherein: said element is magnetically attractible to said lower dispensing a plurality of flat photoconductive elements seriatim, the elements each having guide-engaging notches, the storage compartment including:

first and second opposed side walls interconnected with third and fourth opposed front and rear walls, respectively, forming a parallelepiped storage compartment having offset upper and lower ends;

a top wall interconnecting said side walls and said front wall but spaced above the upper end of said rear wall to form an entrance slot for said elements;

a rail attached to each of said first and second opposed side walls adjacent said front wall and extending from a point spaced from said top wall to said lower end, the notches on the elements being engageable with said respective rails which cooperate with said rear wall to hold each element in substantially horizontal position as it is moved by gravity through said storage compartment;

a foot on the lower end of each of said rails extending toward said front wall for supporting the elements;

a lip extending from the lower end of said rear wall toward said front wall for supporting the trailing edge of an element, said lip having a central recess therein;

a pair of opposing upper and lower feed rollers adjacent said entrance slot and positioned exteriorly of said storage compartment, said rollers being axially offset, said upper roller being spaced further from said slot than said lower roller to hold each element fed therebetween in a substantially horizontal plane to position each element over said rails so that the notches in the element will engage said rails, said lower roller being magnetic;

an idler roller spaced below said lower roller;

an endless non-magnetic belt extending around said lower roller and said endless roller to separate the trailing end of the element from the lower roller;

a spring detent extending from the lower end of said front wall to retain an element on said feet and said lip; and

a reciprocatable member mounted for movement through said recess to push the element off said feet and said lip, the leading edge of the element being deflectible downwardly by said spring detent to guide the element away from said feet. 

1. A gravity-fed storage device for storing and dispensing seriatim a plurality of substantially identical flat rectangular photoconductive elements having guide engaging means formed in lateral edges of such elements, the storage device comprising: first and second opposed side walls interconnected with third and fourth opposed front and rear walls, respectively, forming a parallelepiped storage compartment for a plurality of such elements, said compartment having rectangular offset upper aNd lower ends which are slightly larger than and correspond in configuration to the elements; guide means on said first and second opposed side walls and extending generally parallel to said third and fourth walls between said upper end and said lower end for engagement with the guide engaging means of such elements and cooperating with one of said third and fourth walls for maintaining such elements in a substantially horizontal position as they are fed through said compartment by gravity from said upper end to said lower end; supporting means on said guide means and on said rear wall adjacent to said lower end for releasably supporting elements within said compartment; means defining a slot at the upper end of said fourth wall for receiving elements seriatim into said compartment; and means defining an opening in the lower end of said compartment through which said elements can be dispensed seriatim, whereby said compartment and said guide means cooperate to provide an air cushion during gravity feed of such photoconductive elements.
 2. A storage device, as claimed in claim 1, further including: means for engaging an element on said supporting means for moving it through said opening.
 3. A storage device, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said supporting means include: a foot extending toward said third wall from each of said guides; and at least one foot extending from the lower end of said fourth wall toward said third wall; and said storage device further including: a spring detent extending from the lower end of said third wall to bias an element on said supporting means toward said fourth wall to hold said element on said feet and to deflect said element downwardly away from said feet when said element is moved by said moving means.
 4. A storage device, as claimed in claim 1, further including: a pair of opposing upper and lower feed rollers adjacent said first opening, said rollers being axially offset from one another with said upper roller spaced farther from said first opening than said lower roller to hold each element fed by said rollers in a substantially horizontal plane over the upper ends of said guides to align the guide-engaging means with said guides.
 5. A storage device, as claimed in claim 4 wherein: said element is magnetically attractible to said lower roller, said storage device further comprising: an idler roller spaced below said lower roller; and a non-magnetic endless belt extending around said lower roller and said endless roller to separate the trailing end of the element from said lower roller.
 6. A gravity-fed storage device for storing and dispensing a plurality of flat photoconductive elements seriatim, the elements each having guide-engaging notches, the storage compartment including: first and second opposed side walls interconnected with third and fourth opposed front and rear walls, respectively, forming a parallelepiped storage compartment having offset upper and lower ends; a top wall interconnecting said side walls and said front wall but spaced above the upper end of said rear wall to form an entrance slot for said elements; a rail attached to each of said first and second opposed side walls adjacent said front wall and extending from a point spaced from said top wall to said lower end, the notches on the elements being engageable with said respective rails which cooperate with said rear wall to hold each element in substantially horizontal position as it is moved by gravity through said storage compartment; a foot on the lower end of each of said rails extending toward said front wall for supporting the elements; a lip extending from the lower end of said rear wall toward said front wall for supporting the trailing edge of an element, said lip having a central recess therein; a pair of opposing upper and lower feed rollers adjacent said entrance slot and positioned exteriorly of said storage compartment, said rollers being axially offset, said upper roller being spaced further from said slot than said lower roller to hold each element fed therebetween in a substantially horizontal plane to position each element over said rails so that the notches in the element will engage said rails, said lower roller being magnetic; an idler roller spaced below said lower roller; an endless non-magnetic belt extending around said lower roller and said endless roller to separate the trailing end of the element from the lower roller; a spring detent extending from the lower end of said front wall to retain an element on said feet and said lip; and a reciprocatable member mounted for movement through said recess to push the element off said feet and said lip, the leading edge of the element being deflectible downwardly by said spring detent to guide the element away from said feet. 